"You can see the stickers everywhere," said supporter Sarah Rice, who arrived hours early for Paul's scheduled appearance at the University of Texas. "You can just really feel the power behind Ron Paul here in Austin for sure."

With Newt Gingrich's impending exit, the GOP primary is down to just Mitt Romney and Ron Paul. Trailing far behind Romney in delegates, belated wins in Iowa and Minnesota announced this week have inched Paul closer the five states in which he needs a plurality of votes in order to punch his ticket to the Republican National Convention in August.

"The money keeps coming in, the crowds keep getting bigger and the enthusiasm is increasing," Paul told KVUE shortly after addressing the crowd assembled on the university's LBJ lawn. "So we're going to keep maximizing our efforts to get the most amount of delegates, have a presence at Tampa and keep this whole freedom movement going."

Hope defines his supporters, who are still optimistic despite discouraging polls and delegate counts.

"Well I think some of it's fraud," reasoned supporter Kip Davidson. "The straw polls really don't count really, and all the delegates haven't been counted yet."